Rodrigo Nogueira falls victim to yet another Big Country special

Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira pushed forward seemingly without any real plan other than to strike with Roy Nelson. He was flat-footed, throwing slow punch-combos and allowed Big Country to find his range… Who would do that? Nogueira’s one of the only three fighters to have won championships from both Pride and the UFC, he also came back from a broken arm (courtesy of Frank Mir in UFC 140) not long ago. The man is an MMA legend, but this was certainly not his best fight. Everyone knows Nelson’s conditioning is poor and he has lost every single decision in the UFC, so it was just really unwise to stand toe-to-toe with him like that and not attempt to drag the fight to distance at all.
Nogueira got caught at the very beginning but recovered quickly. Nelson then landed some lighter one-twos before connecting with a huge right again that dropped Noguiera big time. The Brazilian got back up quickly but that proves to be a huge mistake. He should’ve stayed down and try to hold Nelson on until he recovers. But no, he went back on his feet immediately and put himself in mad danger as his legs were wobbly and I’m pretty sure he was still seeing stars. Nelson took his time and just aimed for that opening. Nelson fired his right just as Nogueira’s left hand went down and walked away raising one hand up pointing to the air celebrating in front of the crowd at du Arena in Abu Dhabi. Big Country is now back on track to challenge for the Heavyweight title again.

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In the co-main event, the always-aggressive Clay Guida dominated his Featherweight bout against Tatsuya Kawajiri, showing way superior standup and wrestling. His Japanese opponent impressed with a few of grappling trickery, reversing to armbar and kimura from the bottom, and even a mini piledriver slam from a clinch, but it was not enough for the judges deny Guida’s unanimous decision win.